Finland’s path to NATO has been cleared after the affirmative vote the night before last by the Parliament of Turkey, the last of the 30 member countries of the Alliance pending to give their approval, and the Nordic country, which is holding legislative elections tomorrow, breathes with relief and satisfaction. But he insists, however, that the operation will not be complete until Sweden, also a candidate, is ratified.
Both Nordic nations submitted their application for membership together in May 2022, just three months after the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a brutal shock that prompted them to abandon their traditional military neutrality.
“Finland is now ready to join NATO. We hope to welcome Sweden soon to join us as soon as possible”, said the head of state, Sauli Niinistö, yesterday in a statement in which he thanked the 30 allied countries “for their trust and support”, and promised that “Finland will be a strong and capable ally, committed to the security of the Alliance.”
There are still a few formalities for admission, which should move quickly. “I hope to raise the Finnish flag at the NATO headquarters in the next few days. Together we are stronger and safer,†Alliance Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg tweeted.
The addition of Finland, which shares a 1,340km border with Russia, will double the size of NATO’s border with the country that Vladimir Putin has made the biggest threat perceived by allies, and increases the isolation of the Russian president.
“Both Finland and Sweden will be members soon, which means that President Putin will get the exact opposite of what he wanted; he wanted less NATO and is getting more NATO,†Stoltenberg told Fox News. Stoltenberg hopes that Sweden will be a member before the NATO summit in Vilnius (Lithuania) on July 11 and 12. Finland and Sweden have well-trained armies, and their joint presence would give NATO control of the Baltic Sea.
But the road for Sweden is difficult. After submitting the application together with Finland, the yeses continued for both between July and September 2022, with only Turkey and Hungary delaying the times for various reasons. The Congress and Senate of Spain -a member of the Alliance since 1982- ratified the entry of Finland and Sweden in September 2022.
In fact, Finland did not have ratifications from Turkey and Hungary until this week: the Hungarian Parliament voted on Monday, and the Turkish Parliament on Thursday. “Finland’s request has already been ratified by all members and we will join NATO. Thank you to all countries for your support. As allies, we will give and receive security. We will defend each other. Finland stands with Sweden now and in the future and supports their application,” Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin tweeted.
Sweden still lacks the pleasure of those same two countries. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan argues that Sweden continues to fail to meet Turkey’s demands indicated in the trilateral memorandum they signed with Finland in June 2022 on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Madrid.
Ankara accuses Stockholm of sheltering on its soil activities of members of the banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which both Turkey and the EU consider a terrorist organization. The slowness of Hungary is of another aspect; Her government complains of Swedish criticism of the Prime Minister, Viktor Orbán.
There is no scheduled date for the Hungarian and Turkish parliaments to vote on Sweden, but Erdogan said two weeks ago that Turkey could do so before the country’s general and presidential elections, scheduled for May 14.
The formal procedures for Finland’s entry are now basically a back and forth of letters and signatures. Representatives of Turkey and Hungary must deliver their acceptance letters to Washington, as custodian under the 1949 North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) founding treaty.
Those documents will go to the archives of the US State Department, which will notify Secretary Stoltenberg that the requirements for inviting Finland to become a member have been met. NATO will then send a letter signed by Stoltenberg to Helsinki inviting Finland to join the military alliance. Finland will then submit its acceptance document to the Department of State, which upon receipt implies full adherence. Finland will thus become the 31st NATO country.
